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From the Archives: AWVS Cook Book

Recently, I've had a few requests for peeks inside some of my ration cookbooks I've been showing on Instagram. It's been a long time since I've done a "From the Archives" post, so I thought I'd try and slip one in before I go into hibernation for NaNoWriMo tomorrow. (Don't worry, I'll still be posting for my Autumn Wartime series!)

I thought I'd start out with one of my most recent acquisitions - a thrilling find of the American Women's Voluntary Services Cook Book, ca 1942. The AWVS was a women's organization formed during WWII and was modeled after the British counterpart - the WVS. I was excited to find this book, because I've done some research on the organization and find them fascinating. I was especially interested in seeing what their cookbook looked like!

Let's take a look inside.

These forewords are always interesting to read in wartime cookbooks. They're usually chock full of patriotic sentiment that encourages doing your individual part to accomplish victory. This one is no exception.

A really interesting aspect of this cookbook is a small section at the very beginning that features recipes from all the different AWVS units. Note the one from London!

I like this section featuring famous foreign dishes including a smattering of Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Russian, and French recipes.

I've never seen a section devoted to just honey recipes! This is really cool. 😊

Cranberry Ice and Pistachio Ice Cream sound really good!

A little 1940s cooking advice...

This cookbook has quite a few pages with tables and equivalencies. It's nice having it all in one place.

I saved the best for last - a section especially for the war bride!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into this unique historical cookbook!

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If ever there was a myth about history it would be this: Things were dirt cheap back then.

Were they really?
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I'll give you some examples.

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